Iris.TV is enabling third-party brand safety and contextual targeting for advertisers buying connected TV inventory via SpotX, now part of Magnite.

Using contextual data can boost campaigns’ engagement, conversion lift and increase brand attributes such as awareness, ad recall and consideration, Iris.TV said.

Also Read: MediaMath Integrates Iris_ID for Pre-Bid CTV Contextual Targeting

“There has not only been a major shift in video consumption patterns but also in culture,” said Sean Holzman, head of ad platforms at Iris.TV. “Consumers are holding brands more accountable for the content they underwrite and marketers are demanding transparency. At Iris.TV we have worked for nearly a decade helping the leading centers of journalism and entertainment maximize their return on investment in video. SpotX is a leader of innovation, always seeking better ways to help media and marketers reach and delight consumers. We couldn’t be more thrilled to partner with the SpotX team to build a better TV experience and bring the future to the present.

”In April, Iris.TV raised $18 million to grow its video-data platform, which enables video-level contextual and brand-safe ad targeting, third-party verification, personalized video recommendations, and measurement & analytics solutions.

“Our clients have been demanding increased visibility into the content they are advertising in, but access to contextual data is extremely complicated as it comes in a variety of formats as well as being locked behind content management systems and video players,” said Kristen Williams, senior VP of strategic partnerships at SpotX. “Iris.TV has done the hard work of connecting all these systems, onboarding video data so that media owners can unleash the true value of their content and advertisers can smartly invest in CTV.”

One source of contextual data Iris.TV is bringing to CTV is Oracle Data Cloud.

“This partnership enables Oracle to expand our advanced Contextual Intelligence capabilities into the fast-growing video and CTV ecosystem," said Derek Wise, chief product officer at Oracle Data Cloud. “Oracle is committed to helping advertisers and publishers understand billions of web pages and these new capabilities from Ieia.TV and SpotX enables us to extend our offering into the fast-growing CTV market.”

SpotX works with media owners including A+E Networks, Crackle Plus, The CW Network, Dentsu CCI, Discovery, Fox, fuboTV, LG, Microsoft, Newsy, Pluto TV, Roku, Samsung, Sling TV, and Vudu.

Magnite, following the $1.14 billion acquisition of SpotX, reorganized its management, putting several SpotX executives into key positions.

SpotX’s CTO, J. Allen Dove will become CTO of Magnite and its chief operating officer Sean Buckley will be chief revenue officer for CTV. The changes are effective July 1.

Magnite was formed with the 2020 merger of Rubicon Project and Telaria.

Dove replaces Magnite CTO Tom Kershaw, who is stepping down to pursue a new opportunity outside of ad tech, Magnite said. 

Joe Prusz, who was CRO for Magnite, becomes chief revenue officer for Magnite’s online video and display business, called DV+.

Adam Soroca, head of Magnite’s global buyer team, was named chief product officer, a new position. 

SpotX’s former CEO Mike Shehan will be a consultant to Magnite through the end of the year.

“Following Magnite’s acquisition of SpotX, we’re working hard to bring our teams together in a way that enhances our ability to serve clients and innovate. This process will start at the executive level, and we’re fortunate to have assembled such a deep bench of talent,” said Magnite CEO Michael Barrett. “I have never felt better about our people, or our prospects as a business across all formats, including CTV, which represents a significant and increasing portion of our revenue.”

Magnite said it closed its acquisition of SpotX from RTL Group.

The purchase price was about $1.14 billion, including $640 million in cash and 12.4 million shares of Magnite stock.

Magnite said the acquisition creates an alternative marketplace for connected TV advertising inventory at a time when more marketers are looking over-the-top to reach viewers who have cut the cord with traditional pay TV.

Also Read: Americans Planning Post-COVID Travel Heed CTV Ads: Magnite

“Scale and reaching the largest possible audience is the name of the game when attracting the demand our CTV and video clients need,” said Michael Barrett, president & CEO of Magnite. “Acquiring SpotX positions us to become the world’s largest, independent source of highly-coveted CTV and video inventory. Two-thirds of our revenue is now concentrated in the fastest-growing segments of the market, and as linear TV dollars move to CTV, the greatest opportunity is still ahead of us.”

The combined company’s clients now include A+E Networks, AMC Networks, Crackle, Discovery, FOX, fuboTV, LG, Roku, Samsung, Sling TV and Vizio.

Magnite expects to wring out $35 million in run-rate operation cost synergies after combining the two companies’ operations.

TVSquared said its analytics have been on-boarded by SpotX, enabling connected TV advertisers to measure brand lift, reach, sale and audience measurement.

The added capabilities are available for clients in North America, Europe and Latin America.

“TV transactions are shifting from content to audience, and SpotX is delivering on the promise of CTV by proving that it can be measured and optimized programmatically,” said Jo Kinsella, president of TVSquared. “We are honored to partner with SpotX to make TV more flexible, targetable and accountable for advertisers across the world.”  

Also Read: TVSquared, Experian Team Up for Advanced TV Campaign Insights

Allied Global Marketing was the first to utilize the new measurement capabilities for a client running a tune-in campaign. 

Allied Global Marketing was able to understand the impact of look-alike audiences, identify which targets were driving subscriptions and make data-informed decisions to optimize ROI, TVSquared said. As a result, it increased look-alike segments by 50% for the client. It also leveraged analytics to reallocate media, shifting impressions to higher-performing publishers and programs, resulting in a 49% increase in response rates. 

“The measurement solution offered by SpotX and TVSquared gives us an entirely new way to measure audiences across CTV inventory, and the ability to unlock new targets along the way,” said Evan Ballard, VP, global performance marketing, Allied Global Marketing. “Having this level of precision and granularity for programmatic TV buying is changing how we plan and measure CTV for our clients."

Advertisers in seven countries are currently using the platform for programmatic CTV measurement and attribution.

“Partnering with TVSquared, we are empowering advertisers globally to measure the unparalleled scale of CTV with the same speed, flexibility, and transparency of other traditional digital channels,” said Kristen Williams, senior VP of strategic partnerships, SpotX. “Every media dollar should be tied back to outcomes, and real-time measurement is the key to making that happen. Our clients are unlocking valuable analytics to find and reach targets across publishers, and act on insights to maximize performance and audience activations.”

Program Note: Advanced Advertising Summit is today (April 27), register for free at SpringTVEvents.com. On-demand session viewing after the event available for registered attendees.

Some senators have written the major digital ad exchanges to ask how they handle consumer information and whether foreign companies are access personal information via real-time ad auctions.

They also want lists of of foreign-owned or based companies the exchanges have worked with in the past few years.

Also Read: Magnite Agrees to Buy SpotX

Sending the letters were Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore) Bill Cassidy, (R-La.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

Getting the letters were AT&T, Index Exchange, Google, Magnite, OpenX, PubMatic, Twitter and Verizon.

The letters were dated April 1, but it was no prank.

"Many of the ads we see on our phones, computers, and smart TVs are curated through a process called real time bidding," they said in the letter to AT&T. "In the milliseconds before digital ads are displayed, an auction takes place in which hundreds of companies are able to bid for their ad to be shown. While only one company will win the auction, hundreds of firms participating receive sensitive information about the potential recipient of the ad—device identifiers and cookies, web browsing and location data, IP addresses, and unique demographic information such as age and gender."

Also Read: White House Backs Online Political Ad Disclosures

The senators say that few in the public know that some auction participants, once they have gotten access to that personal information, siphon it off so they can compile "exhaustive" dossiers then sold to anybody who can pay the price, including hedge funds, campaigns, and even governments.

They senators want the following information by May 4:

1. "Please identify the specific data elements about users, their devices, the websites they are accessing, and apps they are using that you provide to auction participants.

2. "Please identify each company, foreign or domestic, to whom your firm has provided bidstream data in the past three years that is not contractually prohibited from sharing, selling, or using the data for any purpose unrelated to bidding on and delivering an ad.

3. If your firm has contractual restrictions in place prohibiting the sharing, sale, or secondary use of bidstream data, please detail all efforts to audit compliance with these contractual restrictions and the results of those audits.

4. "Please identify each foreign-headquartered or foreign-majority owned company to whom your firm has provided bidstream data from users in the United States and their devices in the past three years."

SpotX said it made a deal to become the primary supply-side platform for Crackle Plus ad inventory across its existing and new distribution channels.

Crackle Plus, part of Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, has been expanding the distribution of free, ad supported channels and enhancing the video-on-demand experiences for its Crackle and Popcornflix products. Crackle Plus expects its content to be available to 60 million new viewers in 2021.

“SpotX’s programmatic infrastructure, data enablement capabilities, and expert service have positioned them as a highly-valued monetization partner,” said Darren Olive, executive VP of national advertising sales & strategy at Crackle Plus. “Together, SpotX and SpringServe also offer state-of-the-art ad serving and inventory management, and we are excited to deploy SpotX’s sophisticated header bidding solution, Total Connect+, to maximize yield and campaign performance for all our ad partners.” 

Also Read: SpotX Named SSP for Redbox Ad-Supported Streaming Content

SpotX is in the process of being sold by RTL Group to Magnite.

SpotX’s Total Connect Plus routes inventory across distribution channels and enables programmatic server-to-server connections with SSPs, advanced podding features, synced campaigns, united audience data and forecasting.

Crackle Plus is also using SpotX’s Audience Management Engine to package premium content and overlay third-party data and enable programmatic guaranteed campaigns with specific market segments.

“Crackle Plus continues to lead the AVOD streaming service providers in delivering unique reach across its top original and exclusive programming. Their content has exceptionally high engagement and time spent on the platform by audiences is growing rapidly,” said Mike Laband, senior VP of platform at SpotX. “Their premium, brand-safe inventory is particularly appealing to advertisers because it offers little overlap with traditional broadcasters, thus providing incremental reach against the increasing audience of cord-cutters. We are also very excited to add Crackle’s new live streaming supply that will further increase the scale of its private marketplaces.”

SpotX and Redbox reached a deal in which SpotX will serve as the supply-side platform monetizing Redbox’s free live TV and ad-supported VOD content.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

“As one of America’s leading destinations for new release movies and entertainment, we’re excited to partner with Redbox as they build out an ad-supported streaming platform,” said Ryan Kenney, VP of platform at SpotX, which is being acquired by Magnite from RTL Group. 

“Advertisers are always looking for ways to reach engaged audiences in premium, brand-safe environments. Redbox’s Live Free TV and Free on Demand Services deliver just that,” Kenney said.

Redbox, best known for its movie-rental kiosks, is pivoting to a multi-channel streaming platform. Redbox Free Live TV has nearly 100 channels of entertainment and Redbox Free On Demand features hundreds of titles.

“As a company that’s focused on creating the very best ad-supported streaming destination to entertain millions of Redbox customers, we partnered with SpotX to support the launch of Redbox’s Live Free TV and Free on Demand because they have valuable insights and expertise in driving programmatic demand and can help us efficiently maximize our platform’s capabilities,” said Terrence Coles, Sr., director of the Redbox Media Network.

Magnite said it agreed to acquire SpotX from RTL Group for $1.17 billion in cash and stock.

The combined companies will be a big player in the fast-growing  programmatic connected TV marketplace. Combined, CTV net revenue would have been $42 million in the fourth quarter of 2020, up 34% from the third quarter, and represents 67% of their combined fourth quarter net revenue.

Also Read: Magnite Aims to Unify Direct, Programmatic OTT Demand

“Sellers have been looking for a scaled independent alternative to the giant companies who dominate the CTV marketplace,” said Michael Barrett, president & CEO, Magnite. “The combination of Magnite and SpotX will make this a reality by bringing together the best CTV technologies and teams at a critical time. Ad-supported CTV is just beginning to draw budgets from linear TV and we will be well-positioned to participate in the strongest segment of industry growth for the foreseeable future.

In a blog post, Barrett said he expects the deal to close in the second quarter.

Magnite was formed last year when Rubicon Project merged with Telaria.

Together, Magnite and SpotX will serve some of the world’s leading programmers, broadcasters, platforms and device manufacturers, including A+E Networks, Crackle Plus, The CW Network, Discovery, Disney/Hulu, Electronic Arts, Fox Corporation, fuboTV, Microsoft, Newsy, Philo TV, Pluto TV, Roku, Samsung, Sling TV, Tubi, ViacomCBS, Vizio, Vudu, WarnerMedia and Xumo.

Also Read: Discovery Picks Magnite Programmatic Ad Platform

Magnite expects to be able to cut $35 million in run-rate operating costs through synergies, with half the reductions happening in the first year of combined operation.

“As CTV flourishes and the media industry continues to turn to programmatic, there is a huge opportunity for an independent scaled company to offer the single most comprehensive technology in the market,” said Mike Shehan, co-founder and CEO, SpotX. “We built SpotX with the mission of becoming the leading global video advertising platform, and our goal is now coming to fruition with Magnite. I am thrilled about what we will achieve together.”

“We are excited about the combination of SpotX and Magnite, two leading CTV advertising providers," said  Thomas Rabe, CEO of RTL Group. "This transaction allows for significant value creation and upside potential for the parties, sellers and advertisers in the growing CTV market. We look forward to participating in the future success of SpotX and Magnite as shareholders in the combined entity."

The deal calls for Magnite to pay $560 million in cash and $14 million shares of Magnite stock.

Magnite will discuss additional details about the transaction when it reports fourt-quarter results on Feb. 24.

Prelimiary results have Magnite’s net income of $5.8 million on a 69% increase in revenue to $82 million. Proforma CTV revenue was up 53% to $15.3 million. 

Addressable linear is ready for scale as TV enters a post cable era, according to SpotX, which put out its 2021 Global Video Advertising Trend report.

"With the incredible growth of digital TV and streaming in the past year, it’s evident that we are in the midst of the ‘connected decade,’ especially as viewership and adoption of connected TV and OTT continue to skyrocket,” said Mike Shehan, co-founder and CEO at SpotX. “Record numbers are tuning in, and at this rate, cord-cutting households are on track to eclipse traditional pay TV by 2024.”  

To compile its report, SpotX interviewed top execs from companies including Acxiom, AMC Networks, CCI, Discovery, Dish, GroupM, Samsung Ads, The Trade Desk and TransUnion, who make predictions about how technology will affect how ad dollars are spent in the new year. 

“As more linear TV inventory becomes available programmatically on both a local and national basis, the addressable opportunity for 2021 is one of precision at scale,” said Trade Desk GM strategic partnerships Jon Tabak, one of the executives who contributed to the report. “With programmatic advertising, brands can move beyond broad demographics and fuzzy indexing by leveraging first-party data in real time to  make their linear TV investment smarter and more effective. It also enables a more accurate link across media channels, ultimately informing brands of their TV investment’s role in driving real business outcomes.”

Five key trends were identified in the report. 

The accelerated shift in consumer viewing habits will expedite the development of a post-cable ecosystem. New subscription offerings from legacy giants are pulling more traditional TV households into the digital future.

Ad spend is following these new consumer habits and will flow into OTT and CTV faster than expected. Now that advertisers understand how to activate data for efficient audience targeting while still achieving scale in OTT, more advertisers will re-calibrate their media plans toward digital. CTV advertising in particular will grow rapidly in the U.S.

Device manufacturers have new opportunities to build their ad businesses, increase market share, and influence the viewer experience. The connected capabilities of smart TVs enable manufacturers to collect glass-level measurements and package that data for advertisers. Within the coming years, OEM players may generate more profit from data and advertising offerings than from device sales. 

With programmatic, addressable linear TV is ready for scale. There is a massive opportunity to apply digital technologies and audience data to make broadcast ads targetable and more relevant. With more inventory available programmatic TV spend is expected to reach $6.69 billion by 2021 in the U.S., up from $2.77 billion in 2019.

Data-layered campaigns will continue to become more prevalent with an increased focus on accuracy and measurable opportunities. In 2021, great progress will be made in standardizing measurement across CTV devices. Expect a surge in programmatic guaranteed campaigns.

Both the sell and buy sides will more thoroughly evaluate partners as supply and demand path optimization requirements increase in priority. This past year illuminated the need for brands and media owners to build more resilient value chains. Strategic leaders on both the sell and buy sides are looking to cull their vendor list and focus on fewer, trusted partnerships. 

“We have been working to implement an intelligent, scalable solution to help fuel the growth of addressable TV and it feels like we are finally at a tipping point as an industry, said AMC Networks senior VP advanced advertising and digital products Evan Adlman, another of the executives SpotX spoke with. “In 2021 and beyond, as advertisers are looking for the most return for their marketing dollars, the demand for targeted, customized opportunities, such as the ones that addressable presents, will increase exponentially. At AMC Networks, we are ready to step up and meet that demand, thanks to partners like SpotX."

Media agency GroupM and SpotX said they will be working more closely on programmatic ad buying.

GroupM is expanding its global Premium Supply offering--in which publishers reserve high-quality inventory for the media buyers clients--to the U.S. 

SpotX will provide technology for GroupM Premium Supply in the U.S. and SpotX will be the agency’s preferred programmatic video exchange partner.

“As the largest media advertising company in the world, GroupM is continually looking for the most efficient ways to reach high-quality inventory while providing full transparency to our clients,” said Esra Bacher, managing partner - programmatic investment lead at GroupM. “As viewership dramatically increases in streaming video, we have chosen to partner with SpotX due to their strong relationships with the supply-side of the video ecosystem. We’re excited to continue our great work with them moving forward.”

GroupM started Premium Supply in 2017 and now operates it in more than 10 markets world wide. In addition to premium content, participants in GroupM Premium supply promise transparency about fees and auction mechanics, as well as reduced fees. The money saved is used to buy more inventory from participating publishers.

The SpotX-GroupM agreement is part of a trend to optimize supply chains that has led to buyers and sellers working with a smaller number of intermediaries. In addition to SpotX, GroupM works with Index Exchange focusing on display media.

As part of the agreement, SpotX will also develop unique programmatic solutions for GroupM clients, which will streamline the ad planning, buying, decisioning, and optimization processes.

“In today’s climate, we understand that media agencies have many different choices in SSPs, and we are thrilled to be recognized by GroupM for our programmatic expertise and substantial ties to publishers,” said Sean Buckley, COO at SpotX. “We’re excited to enhance the partnership GroupM and their clients have with our platform customers and continue to scale the digital video ecosystem.”

Over 48 million homes will shift from linear TV to only connected TV (CTV) by 2021, according to eMarketer. As CTV has gained momentum with consumers, advertisers have invested accordingly. CTV ad spend in the US will reach $20.1 billion in 2020, according to Tru Optik — a growth rate of over 50% year-on-year. 

As a result, measuring the quality and performance of CTV buys is increasingly critical. To do that effectively, however, it is important to understand and debunk the most common CTV ad myths among buyers. 

Myth 1: CTV and OTT are the Same Thing

First, CTV and over-the-top (OTT) are not the same thing, though they are often referred to as synonymous. CTV is a television or internet-connected device that enables viewers to access content through applications, some of which may come preinstalled on a TV. Unlike linear TV, CTV includes smart TVs, streaming devices like Roku, TiVo, and Apple TV, as well as gaming consoles like PlayStation and Xbox. One of the reasons CTV is so appealing to advertisers is that it already has an incredible audience reach. 

OTT, on the other hand, is video content delivered via the internet rather than through cable or satellite, regardless of the device used. Crackle Plus, Pluto TV, and Sling TV are examples of OTT services. They are apps or websites that provide streaming video content while bypassing linear distribution. OTT delivered through CTV is often full screen, immersive, unskippable, broadcast quality, and available to stream on other devices such as smartphones. A recent IAB study found that 76% of OTT streamers watch ad-supported OTT content and 62% of viewers don't mind seeing ads if they aren't paying anything for the content. This signifies that viewers are leaning into advertising on OTT and absorbing content at high rates, which is attractive to advertisers trying to reach highly-engaged audiences. 

Myth 2: CTV Inventory is Scarce, Especially in Programmatic

Many advertisers believe that programmatic CTV inventory is scarce. However, in actuality, CTV inventory boasts substantial scale. Relying on linear TV alone is a missed opportunity for marketers trying to effectively reach audiences at scale. Comscore finds that 80.5 million watch pay TV, 70 million watch CTV and 21 million watch both. Meanwhile, 48.9 million do not subscribe to linear TV at all -- and that number is only growing. In other words, by incorporating a CTV strategy into their media mix, advertisers can reach the “unreachables.” 

In addition, CTV inventory is diverse and growing. Almost all the premium network broadcasts are available programmatically if they are ad-supported, and premium network inventory is becoming increasingly available in an automated way as we see legacy providers launch their own CTV advertising-based video on demand (AVOD) services. Because this inventory can be transacted programmatically, CTV also delivers the targeting benefits of digital, allowing advertisers to cherry pick their most relevant audiences, rather than buying all households as they would on linear TV.

Myth 3: CTV is Not Measurable

Because CTV is a relatively new platform, many advertisers believe that it isn’t measurable. This common misconception may stem from the fact that different technologies are required for CTV measurement than those used for mobile and desktop. In mobile and desktop environments, there is widespread adoption of ads.txt which is an IAB-approved text file that publishers can use to publicly list the companies they authorize to sell their digital inventory. In contrast, there is a limited but growing adoption of apps-ads.txt (a similar file that designates authorized mobile app inventory sellers) within the CTV landscape. As the mobile and desktop landscape has matured, measurement technology for those devices is now well developed and adopted widely. CTV measurement technology, on the other hand, is nascent and adoption of standardized measurement tools and naming conventions is currently inconsistent. 

Quality measurement is definitely possible on CTV and starts with transparency. Advertisers should demand that programmatic  partners be certified for fraud protection on CTV. They should also partner with third-party verification providers who are able to scale across and independently evaluate this emerging medium.

Myth 4: Fraud Doesn’t Exist Across CTV 

Since CTV is a fairly new but evolving platform for advertisers to reach audiences, many believe that it is free of fraud. Unfortunately, however, that is not the case and in fact, CTV is a target for fraud. It is particularly attractive to fraudsters as a result of high CPMs (cost per thousand impressions or ‘mile’). In addition, CTV demand outstrips supply and advertisers are flocking to buy programmatically, which introduces new risks not present in direct buys. In short, bad actors are following the money.

Within the last 12 months, DoubleVerify has detected more than a thousand fraudulent CTV apps and more than 500,000 fraudulent devices are detected each day. CTV fraud can take many forms. Fraudsters can easily create their own CTV apps and release them to open and closed app stores. Today, hundreds of apps exist with few downloads, but millions of impressions. In other cases, bad actors create a layer of ad tech that app creators unknowingly rely on, leading to fraudulent app traffic. Server-side ad insertion (SSAI) is another example. SSAI technology has some amazing benefits, but the same technology can be used to easily generate fraud at scale. Fraudsters can either create their own SSAI servers or route / license these services to garner ad revenue from fake traffic, making it look legitimate. Having direct relationships between buyers and sellers can drastically reduce fraud in these environments. 

Myth 5: All CTV Inventory is Premium and Created Equal

CTV inventory has become synonymous with premium inventory; however, that is not always the case. This is, in part, because app stores have different regulations. 

While some app stores have closed environments and vigorous processes in place to ensure quality, others have an open infrastructure that enables ‘turnkey’ solutions, allowing anyone to make apps available. Because of varying standards across different app stores, apps that have non-brand safe content can be created and are ripe for ad fraud. Programmatic platforms are combating this by integrating CTV certification programs that force users to demonstrate their ability to prevent fraud. 

It's evident that CTV advertising is a highly effective way to reach audiences at scale with personalized messaging across multiple platforms. But to ensure that CTV campaigns are effective, media buyers need to be equipped with the right information so they can optimize their strategies accordingly and avoid fraud. To get the highest return on investment from CTV, media buyers should be sure to work only with trusted partners that can advise which inventory is authorized and have humans to manually check inventory quality. 

SpotX is the leading video advertising platform shaping digital video and the future of TV globally. The company’s solutions enable media owners to monetize content across all screens and streams while providing advertisers with direct access to brand-safe, premium inventory. 

DoubleVerify is a leading software platform for digital media measurement, data and analytics. DV’s mission is to be the definitive source of transparency and data-driven insights into the quality and effectiveness of digital advertising for the world's largest brands, publishers and digital ad platforms.

Streaming has grown into a mainstream activity, and in a new report, SpotX declares that Connected TV, or CTV, is for everyone.

“CTV has now progressed beyond being a new entrant to the market. It’s not a fad or short-lived tech trend, and it isn’t just for digital natives and millennial hipsters,” SpotX said in the report. “We have seen CTV move from an early adopter technology to the early majority phase of consumer adoption. This year is a coming of age period for CTV.”

CTV households have grown to 70 million homes from 60 million in 2018. At the same time, the number of non-pay TV homes increased to 48.9 million from 32 million, according to the report. About 21 million of the 80.5 million homes with pay TV also are watching CTV.

The findings noted in this report are reflective of the moment in time immediately preceding COVID-19 and so we expect that both the volume and the regularity of these findings have only continued to grow, SpotX notes.

In a survey, SpotX found that among CTV consumers, 85% own a paid subscription to a streaming service. But 80% of them said they did not intend to increase their spending on subscriptions in the next 12 months.

It is typical for CTV consumers to own multiple subscriptions, also known as a “subscription stack.” Most subscribers spend between $4 and $29 a month on their subscriptions, others pay up to $69 a month in total, and very few are spending beyond that threshold.

Most CTV viewers say that the maximum amount of subscriptions they would be interested in owning at any given time is four.

There are typically three viewers for every paid subscription as it is common for family and friends to co-view within the household and to share subscription access with people outside of the home. Only 1 in 4 consumers have a subscription that they do not share with anyone else

Households with kids are significantly more likely than others to have three or more subscriptions. In addition, the higher a consumer’s household income, the more likely they are to have more subscriptions.

The report said the average time spent streaming per day is now three hours – a big increase from 46 minutes two years ago.

“Of consumers we spoke to, 63% stream content daily, 27% stream content at least a few times a week, and only 10% stream less often than that,” the report said. 

The CTV audience is highly engaged, watches regularly, and for long periods of time, as 26% of viewers watch more than 30 hours per week. Saturday and Sunday are the most active streaming days. Live TV commands one-third of streaming consumer attention.

SpotX said that CTV represents an opportunity for advertisers.

"While it is undeniable that most CTV viewers regularly watch Netflix, we found that 4 out of 5 streamers watch ad supported programming and 60% would prefer to watch free content over a paid ad-free service,” the report said.

There are pitfalls for advertisers, with 36% saying their biggest issue is being shown the same ad too many times while 28% find it creepy when ads follow them from one screen to another, including on CTV. The majority--71%--said they are concerned about how their personal information is being used for advertising purposes.

That said, CTV is valuable because every type of consumer can be reached by TV and those viewers are highly engaged, watching three hours of content per day. 

“Our recommendation: Advertisers should follow the audience,” the report said. “Traditional TV remains the number one choice for achieving scale, but with a median viewer age of 58.7 years, it is a graying audience and gradually becoming less reflective of America’s dynamic society. CTV mirrors our national consumer make-up – diverse, digital, and demanding. It has become the ideal way to reach specific audiences effectively at scale.”

“As a neighborhood-based brand, especially as we head into the clutter and chaos of election time, the role of CTV to enable Pearle Vision to engage, educate, and motivate our neighbors to take action has become increasingly more important. We’ve tested CTV and found it to be a strong medium both nationally and, critically, at the local level to ensure we put our brand on the brain of our target consumer efficiently and effectively.” Doug Zarkin VP and CMO of Pearle Vision said in the report.

“CTV has become a larger piece, if not a majority, of the overall video strategy and landscape. Statistics continue to prove the aggressive growth in cord-cutters and cord-nevers, making CTV a lucrative landscape to reach the proper audience in a relevant moment. Coupled with the opportunity to provide incremental reach to linear, and a more sophisticated audience targeting capability, CTV should and will continue to grow as a part of buyer strategy and approach for the next year and beyond,” said Rahil Berani, VP, Precision, Digitas North America.

The SpotX survey was conducted in February by Mintel, which questioned 1,500 people who declared they watched CTV at least once a month.

SpotX said it has made a deal to integrate Acxiom data into its audience-based buying capabilities.

The integration layers data on the supply side, letting advertisers who are purchasing media programmatically through a demand-side platform to get closer to their target audience.

IPG’s leading addressable media agency Matterkind is using the integration for clients to create additional visibility among key audiences.

“Matterkind’s Addressable Strategy and Activation Teams have seen success and high performance from SpotX setting up private marketplace deals while leveraging Acxiom data,” said Peter Parisi, director, advanced TV at Matterkind. “This has enabled our teams to work with Acxiom as a data partner to identify and efficiently scale strategic audiences within SpotX’s premium video inventories for our advertisers.”

The partnership drives more filtered demand to media owners and enhances their engagement with advertisers.

“Addressable advertising and the personalization of video ads have become increasingly important to upfront negotiations, so we want to ensure that data is made available with the most scale to help our clients reduce wasted ad spend and not only reach a larger audience, but also generate better results,” said Kristen Williams, VP, strategic partnerships at SpotX. “Our integration with Acxiom is an important step for SpotX’s commitment to client success as we guide them to make the smartest decisions by fusing ads with unique data.”

Acxiom client’s data segments will only be used on campaigns for which SpotX is contractually allowed.

“We provide marketers with the ability to unify data across their campaigns and measurement, and our data and technology layer allows us to apply various techniques such as machine learning to optimize those media campaigns,” said John Baudino, senior VP of digital data at Acxiom. 

“By partnering with SpotX, we can now offer our clients additional visibility into where they can reach their audiences, as well as data permissions, protection, and privacy,” added Ben Mittal, partner manager at Acxiom.

Video advertising platform SpotX said it has expanded its measurement and attribution suite by collaborating with 11 top data companies.

SpotX said it has relationships with measurement companies including Comscore, Kantar, Nielsen, STAQ and Tru Optik, with Kantar and Comscore providing help calculating brand lift.and gauging outcomes of video ad campaigns, including those using connected TV.

The company also has an attribution relationship with NCSolutions, NinthDecimal, Placed powered by Foursquare and PlaceIQ to help brands measure foot traffic and in-store purchases.

“Brands and media buyers have known the value of CTV inventory, however, there hasn’t been a concrete way of showing how these ads drive actions or purchases,” said Kristen Williams, VP, Strategic partnerships at SpotX. “By collaborating with the most respected measurement and attribution companies in the industry, we can help brands provide meaningful experiences for consumers, as well as effectively measure and accurately attribute how video ad spend across OTT channels leads to tangible online and in-store conversions.”

With Nielsen Digital Ad Ratings for CTV, SpotX can generate next-day views of audience demographics and ad delivery for mobile web, mobile app, desktop, and connected devices. Nielsen’s metrics help brands understand the incremental reach of a campaign’s ad on connected TV and linear TV.

SpotX’s partnership with Tru Optik allows advertisers to leverage mid and post-campaign reporting to identify if ads are reaching behavior and interest-based targets.

MBuy, a media planning and buying service, is using SpotX’s expanded offering to provide its clients with campaigns that reach and engage audiences within specific channels.

“Evaluating metrics like brand lift performance and cross-screen measurement validation are just a few of the many key insights important to our clients,” said Michael Parent, senior VP, strategy, media & operations at MBuy. “The comprehensive studies provided by SpotX allow us to deliver valuable resources to help our clients make smarter ad decisions.

SpotX said it has made a deal with ViacomCBS’s Pluto TV to provide monetize viewership in Latin American by providing a programmatic connections to advertisers and media buyers.

The companies said the agreement opens up new opportunities for buyers to place ad campaigns in Spanish-language OTT content and reach a new audience of streaming viewers.

Pluto TV launched in Latin America last month. It plans to have more than 70 channels by the end of the year in countries including  Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela, and Brazil.

“As a company that’s focused on creating the very best television experience, we partnered with SpotX to support the launch of Pluto TV in Latin America because they have unmatched expertise in driving programmatic demand for OTT and can help us efficiently maximize our platform’s advertising capabilities,” said Felipe Cortelezzi, director AVOD Monetization at Pluto TV Latin America. 

SpotX’s Demand Facilitation services will bring a diverse group of clients to Pluto TV, including marketers in the auto, retail, consumer packaged goods and entertainment categories, which helps avoid showing viewers the same commercials over and over.

“Pluto TV offers an exceptional viewer experience to audiences and consumer demand for their content is high,” said Ryan Kenney, VP, Platform, at SpotX. “We’re excited to partner with Pluto TV again as they expand into Latin America by connecting advertisers with their premium, brand-safe inventory tailored for highly engaged, native language speaking audiences.”

SpotX has been doing business in Latin America for the past two years.

Virtual MVPD Philo said it’s working with Comcast’s FreeWheel for ad management, and serving and decisioning, as well as a range of other advanced advertising partners including Premion, Roku, SpotX, Telaria, Xandr and Verizon Media.

“We’re partnering with best-in-class SSPs and DSPs, and we’ve aligned with content partners to provide a consistent, brand-safe programming environment,” said Reed Barker, head of advertising at Philo. “As a result, we’re able to offer an elegant, sophisticated advertising solution to agencies and brands to accompany a TV experience consumers love.”

Philo bundles 45 channels, including A&E, AMC, Discovery and a range of Viacom networks, for an industry-low $16 a month. Philo remains the only vMVPD at this point not to have announced a significant monthly price increase for its users.

Like other vMVPDs, the San Francisco startup is looking to advanced advertising to make its business profitable.

Philo hasn’t put out a subscriber number in quite a while. A Strategy Analytics ranking of vMVPDs published last summer pegged the low-cost vMVPD service at around 150,000 users. 

Video advertising platform SpotX said an extended partnership with zvelo is enabling it to prevent brands' commercials from running in objectionable content.

Zvelo’s ability to detect and block malicious websites and content— including fake news —helps ensure brand safety for SpotX users. Other content blocked includes material supporting terrorism and cryptocurrency mining, SpotX said.

Related: Advertisers Following Viewers as They Move to Over-the-Top

“Our expanded partnership with zvelo really reinforces SpotX’s unwavering commitment to brand safety, as well as our duty to clean up the video ad ecosystem and educate media buyers about fraudulent inventory as new threats emerge,” said Nick Frizzell, senior director, brand safety & inventory operations at, SpotX.

“Empowered by zvelo’s technology, we’re able to help media buyers avoid brand-damaging associations with fake news,” Frizzell said. “In an environment where buyers continually struggle to identify worthwhile ad inventory within the onslaught of new content and websites emerging every day, our zvelo-backed brand safety practices help publishers sort through the noise and successfully target advantageous ad placements.”

Related: fuboTV Connects With SpotX for Programmatic Advertising

Zvelo provides a classification engine that categorizes fake news using a combination of static and heuristic analysis techniques, aggregation of vetted third-party “fake news” feeds, and human-supervised machine learning.

"SpotX was the first supply-side platform that we partnered with in providing content categorization for brand safety, and we’re proud of the work we’ve done together to make the internet a safer place to advertise,” said Jeff Finn, CEO, zvelo. “At the same time, we’re excited to provide greater capabilities for the categorization of fake news sources than ever before, and to assist SpotX in offering a thoroughly vetted, brand-safe ad inventory for publishers.”  

Reaching over-the-top viewers has become an important new strategy for advertisers, content owners and multichannel video service providers, according to a new survey from video ad service company SpotX.

The survey, conducted by Kagan, a division of S&P Global Market Intelligence, found that 100% of advertisers said the biggest change in their strategy was the result of changing viewing habits.

The survey’s advertising respondents said they expected higher return on investment on OTT, where they are able to use data and adopt audience-based buying.

Related: fuboTV Connects With SpotX For Programmatic Advertising

While only 11% of advertisers said they spend 21% to 40% of their ad dollars on OTT platforms now, looking ahead two years, 57% of advertisers expect to do so.

Among those advertisers, 44% said they expect to see an 11% to 20% increase in return on advertising spending by moving from traditional ad buying to audience-based buying, with 33% expecting a 6% to 10% increase.

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

Get complete coverage of NYC Television & Video Week.

New York -- “I think that 2017 is going to be the year of first-party measurement,” Joan FitzGerald, vice president of product management and business development at TiVo, said during an audience-measurement panel Wednesday (Oct. 19) at the Advanced Advertising conference, commenting that that might be a controversial statement.

It might have been in the sense that the biggest player in third-party TV viewing measurement, Nielsen, was represented on the panel in the form of Andrew Feigenson, managing director, digital. But on the same panel Randy Cooke, VP of programmatic at SpotX, had declared he believed “the future of ad decisioning resides in first-party data.” Cooke, though, also endorsed the importance of a “trusted industry support standard” to evaluate whether or not an ad buy you just made was priced correctly.

FitzGerald’s point was that advertisers have been building their own databases – including visitors to their own websites – and attaching it to third-party data sources from the likes of Nielsen or set-top data from Comscore (which acquired Rentrak) instead of relying more heavily on what comes from third parties. “This experimentation is going to become more mainstream” going forward, she said.

The panel, part of NYC Television and Video Week, also featured Colleen Fahey Rush, executive VP and chief research officer at Viacom, who said the "trust and transparency" role of third-party measurement in TV was underscored by recent news of video views exaggerated by “people grading their own homework.” She wouldn’t name the company when asked to elaborate by moderator Dade Hayes, the editor of Broadcasting & Cable, but the allusion seemed to be about Facebook’s admission that it had accidentally overstated the number of viewers for videos on the site (a situation Facebook said had been fixed and did not result in overbilling to clients).

Rush went on to say the Viacom Vantage data-driven ad product, announced in 2015, had been resonating with ad buyers and growing. Viacom Vantage, she said, “is really all about harnessing all kinds of different kinds of data sets so that we can really work with the advertiser and agency to define the segment together and deliver impressions and reach and their guaranteed target.”

Feigenson agreed that first-party data use was on the rise but used, as an example, Travelocity. That online travel provider has a huge amount of data from its own transactions, but that doesn’t represent the entire travel industry.

Movie studios, he also said, used to have relatively easy choices to make when they wanted to promote an upcoming theatrical release: buy mass audience reach using gross ratings points. Audiences are more fragmented now, though, and buying network TV won’t reach the millions of viewers tuned to Netflix or other streaming sources. “There are so many options right now that I think for a marketer it’s absolutely baffling,” he said.

“The baseline has to be reach and frequency to start with,” Feigenson, and then layer on other more targeted approaches. Nielsen, of course, is hard at work on generating "Total Audience Measurement" that will include online viewing sources.

Feigenson related a story about a recent meeting with customers in an advisory board and how one of the people at the session needed some extra time to absorb the new data features coming out and remarked, essentially, that what Nielsen was doing was awesome but it was moving too fast.

Hearing "Nielsen and too fast in the same sentence," Feigenson said, was memorable.

A Comscore executive had been scheduled to appear on the panel but was unable to attend, leaving Feigenson as the sole representative of third-party measurement firms on the panel.